Former Big Thunder ski jumpers lament closure of championship-hosting hill

Some of the best childhood memories of Kristof and Daniel Kardas are from Big Thunder.

The two brothers, who now own Mount Baldy Ski Area, along with their other sibling Jason, said they were more or less raised at the iconic ski jumping facility in Thunder Bay, Ont.

• Friends of Big Thunder hope former ski jump and nordic area can be saved

"In our family, that's what we did,  we had ski jumpers from around the world staying at our house," said Kristof Kardas. "We had a ski shop, we went to Big Thunder, and we trained."

"I don't know if my dad was brainwashing us, but he did a good job considering we now own a ski resort," he added, while sitting in the upstairs of Mount Baldy's chalet.

The two brothers said they remember sleeping in the Big Thunder chalet while their dad coached athletes from around the world throughout the night.

Now, all that remains, for them, of Big Thunder, is those memories. The hill, owned by the provincial government, was permanently closed in 1996. A lot of the major infrastructure still remains in place.

"The whole ski community after that somewhat died," Kristof Kardas said. "We left, we moved out west for 10, 12 years and worked at Lake Louise and carried on our ski career.

"It was a shame," he continued. "We both would have liked to stay here. We were both coaches at that time, and we couldn't do anything here, so we had to leave town."

'It kills you'

What frustrates the brothers the most, is the investment made into the jumping facilities, never to be recouped.

"With the ski jumps, and after they put so much money into the summer program, the freestyle water ramp that they've never used," said Kardas.  "We have an awesome freestyle team in Thunder Bay that have to leave town to go to Montreal to get their flip licenses, when we have a three million dollar pool right here in our backyard."

"I think Danny and one of his friends are the only ones that used it. It never got opened. And, they just used it right after they built it, and that's it."

The two agreed that re-opening Big Thunder will not be easy. They pointed to the amount of maintenance work they need to complete every summer on a ski area that has operated, continuously, for decades. Big Thunder has been shuttered, with minimal maintenance, for over 20 years.

"The money being wasted. It kills you," said Kardas.

"At the end of the day, Big Thunder was an amazing place for everybody," Daniel Kardas said. "Even when I was coaching the 2002 Olympics, I had guys that were asking, 'What's going on with Big Thunder?' And, that's from around the world."

"The multimillions of dollars that they put into that beautiful venue," he continued. "Basically, they just locked the gates and that was it and walked away. It's a sad sight. It's an amazing facility, but you know, now at this point, it's going to take a lot of work to get her rolling."